Belarus in Wonderland
by Queenmayan
Summary: Belarus is having yet another one of her "not so great days" and with the consistent annoyances, the absent of Russia, and the time itself, she decides to have a nap. But this is also interrupted when a lovable familiar face appears, with rabbit ears. In her attempts to catch up with this rabbit she finds herself in another world surrounded by many more curiously familiar faces.
1. Welcome to Wonderland

Wonderland is not a place; it is a state of mind. Everyone will end up there at one point or another. Most have already had their first visit, and may even be on their fourth or fifth. It is where you end up when you are going through a stage of outright depression, denial, or dereliction.

Some are there to cope with the loss of a loved one, friend or family member. Some are there learning to accept the loss of their own lives or sanity. Others are there simply because they have nowhere else to turn. Not all those who enter Wonderland are able to leave with their obstacles overcome, or leave at all for that matter. There will always be those who do not want to accept their fate, and those who do not want to even return to their real world at all. And those are the spirits who haunt Wonderland.

To some Wonderland is a dream world. A place where they can finally live the lives they have always wanted. To others, it is a complete and utter nightmare.

Everyone enters Wonderland for a reason, and the creatures they meet along the way are all meant to assist said person with their journey. Whether or not they choose to actually do this job is completely up to the creature. Although it is a state of mind, the person who enters Wonderland has no control over the world around them. And there is always the odd chance that they do not leave this world; not because they do not wish to, or because their obstacle was unmoved, simply because they could not survive what the world threw at them.

The way my Wonderland series will work, is that in each story a different nation will be brought to Wonderland. Whether that be via rabbit hole, looking glass, or something else entirely. It doesn't really matter.

You will see a recurrence of creatures but they will always have a different face. The order in which the protagonist meets these creatures, and the events that take place through this order may be similar, but I promise the overall story will always be completely different.


	2. The Real World

Belarus enters her small living room crossing over to the love seat. She sits glancing at the large grandfather clock in the corner of the room just in time to see it tick over to 9 o'clock. Sighing, she grabs her remote, ready to be poisoned by the propaganda of state run television. But when the TV flicks on she is met with only a fuzzy screen and the sound of white noise. She frowns and hits the remote a few times in an attempt to fix the static engulfed screen. When her endeavor ends in failure she simply sets the remote back down, and fixes her eyes on the screen.

Belarus doesn't mind the white noise too much, she actually enjoys watching it quite a bit. It's hypnotic in a way. It can remove you from reality, and from your own mind. So as you're not even there anymore. Your body will sit there in from of the screen but you, yourself, are free from it. Free from the world you are trapped in. Free to explore the perfection of nothingness. Deep down that really is all she wants, to be free from it all eternally. Sadly, as a nation, there is no easy way to do this eternally. How much longer must she stay here, in this body, in this world? She often ponders this. What is the point of her being here in the first place?

She stares motionless at the television. All she can see is the static. All she can hear is the white noise. It blankets over her. Consuming her surroundings as if she herself is part of it. All feeling dissipating; all emotion evaporating. Nothing but the dangerously blissful desolation of the white noise and an empty mind.

Belarus is pulled out of her perfect nothingness by an ear splitting ringing; the static now silenced by it, seeming secondary. She blinks, opening herself back to reality, and re-entering her living room. She had somehow moved from the love seat, and was now kneeling directly in front of the television.

Standing, she scouts the area for the source of the bothersome ringing. Her eyes land on the phone next to the television, just a meter away from her. She grabs is swiftly, turning off her television in the same motion.

"What?" She says harshly, to whomever interrupted her depleted bliss.

"Wow, you don't need to be so, like, rude." The man replies "Can you, like, get Liet on the phone?"

Belarus closes her eyes, the man's irritating voice already beginning to cause a migraine "Why the fuck would Lithuania be here?"

"Because he, like, works there. Duh." Poland replies, beginning to munch on something obnoxiously loud into the phone.

"You idiot, you called my home, he is at Brother Russia's. How did you even manage to call such a wrong number?"

"Oh, sorry. I totally thought this was, Russia's number! Oh well, I'll try again." He says, seeming uncaring for his disruption.

"Yes, try not fuck it up again." Rolling her eyes at his half assed apology.

"Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed! You should totally-" Belarus hangs up the phone before he can finish, not caring to hear him babble on any longer.

Looking back at the grandfather clock she sees it is now 11:05 am. This is no odd occurrence for her, as she often zones out for hours on end, so much so that it becomes night.

At the sudden realization of time Belarus quickly decides she can't stay in her house any longer, and to go visit her beloved older brother. She exits her house and is instantly blinded by the sun in the middle of the bright blue sky. Of course the polish man would interrupt just as it turns to the afternoon. If he hadn't called she might have been able to miss this awful time of day, she might have been able to zone right through it until 3 o'clock. But no, now she must suffer through it once again.

Belarus rings the doorbell of her brothers mansion, and stands back awaiting an answer. Looking at the time she see's that barely half an hour has passed with the time it took to get here. She was moving much faster than expected, but she generally does that when nervous. Still another hour or so of torture, but what else would you expect?

She stands impatiently, the seconds feeling like hours, waiting for the door to open. Quickly fed up with the wait, all though it's only been a few seconds, she grabs the door handle and forcefully enters the large house, a thump being heard below her as she does so.

She solemnly closes the door behind her and glances down at the boy now laying on the floor. Sitting up, he brushes off his bright red uniform and looks up at her. He had fallen, startled by her sudden entrance and quickly jumps up when meeting her gaze.

"S-sorry Miss Belarus, I was coming as fast as I could to get the door, but I see you didn't really need me to as you have already barged in." the boy stutters, visibly unnerved by the woman's intimidating aura. "Not that barging in was a bad thing, you are always welco-"

"Where is Big Brother?" She cuts in, interrupting his nervous babbling.

"He is out with Miss Ukraine at the moment."

Belarus frowns at the boy's reply "Of course he is…" She mutters. Of course he would be with that woman. Why must she always take him away? "Where are they?"

"I don't know, they never told us where they were going. We were just happy to have them out of the house…" the Latvian boy jumps when his eyes lock again with her hostile gaze "B-but I'm sure they will be back soon! No need to worry at all!"

"Then I will wait."

Latvia sighs at this response, seeming disappointed in a way, but quickly straightens "I think Lithuania would want to talk with you. He is in the library right now, just go down that hall and-" he begins to explain, pointing as Belarus walks in the other direction, ignoring the boy's words. "It's the other way actually, if you want to… And you're leaving. Okay I'll go… Tell him." He finishes slowly, now standing alone in the large empty foyay.

Belarus walks through the labyrinth like halls, glancing at the time every few seconds, the minutes passing by dreadfully slow.

11:50

How much longer would she need to wait for brother to get home? Why must he be with Ukraine? Why must he favor her so much more? If Belarus only knew where they were she could go and see him right now, but stupid little Latvia has no idea where they are. Useless.

Her thoughts are interrupted by a ringing. She stops and notices the phone on a small table just ahead in the hall. She huffs, the annoying polish man must be following her. Then calmly walking up and answering, bringing the phone up to her ear silently, just listening.

"Hey dude! It stopped ringing so I guess you answered… Is that you Lithuania?"

"No. It is Belarus." She answers to the familiar obnoxious voice of America.

"Oh...uh, hey dudette." He greets slowly, then quickly asking. "Is he there?"

"No."

"Oh, well, that's okay, I guess. I thought he said he'd be there..." he comments, half to himself, seeming immensely disappointed. "I'll just be going then-" he says attempting to excuse himself but only to get interrupted.

"How is your day going?" Belarus asks, wanting to make conversation.

"Um, pretty good" he answers confused by her curiosity. There is a short period of silence on the line and America laughs awkwardly, then giving at quiet "oh!" With the appearance of an idea "Hey Canadia! Bro! What are you doing here?" He shouts quickly away from the phone "Sorry, gotta go, bye" he rushes to Belarus before slamming the phone down and the line then going dead.

She just stands for a minute, just holding the phone to her ear and staring ahead. As if he was going to reappear on the other side. Not that she would ever admit it, but she was very disappointed at him leaving. His obnoxious voice would be a perfect distraction from the time.

11:55

She slowly brings the phone away from her ear, staring down at it. He had left, and the line began to beep loudly, the phone not liking being off of its hook for so long.

"Who was that?" A voice asks, coming up behind her.

Belarus turns, facing the Lithuanian "No one." She replies hanging up the phone, and continuing her walk in the other direction.

She can hear a quick set of footsteps and he begins to walk in step a few paces away. She glance back at him, same ugly green uniform, same stupid hair, and same nervous smile. She's confused by him. Everyone she has spoken to today has seemed to have something to say about him. Poland and America called for him. America left as soon as he found out he wasn't there, and Latvia actually thought she should go see Lithuania as soon as she got to the house. Like she would ever want to waste time on him.

Everyone seems to love him, but in her opinion there is nothing to love. He is so irritating, always following her around. Everyone seems to care for him more, even Russia. Lithuania is just another person in the way, in the way of brother's love. Belarus' heart began to race just thinking about this, getting agitated and restless, she quickly checks the time.

11:58

Still an hour left of torture, why can't brother just come home already?

"Belarus… Are you alright? You seem nervous, in a way" Lithuania's irritatingly concerned voice breaks into her thought.

She glares back at him "Why are you following me?"

He stops for a second "Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you" he says, recomposing himself and then running up to walk right beside her. He takes a nervous breath, looking down at his feet and nodding to himself before turning to face her "I was wondering if you would want to come over to my place this weekend, since I know you like haunted photography, there is this place called The Hill of Crosses. It's a big hill covered in crosses, and it's pretty creepy in the twilight hours. All these crosses were put there because way back in 18-"

"No." She says curtly, not caring for a history lesson. "I'm going to my room."

Lithuania's face instantly falls, as Belarus turns down another hall and heads to her old bedroom (now used for when she visits and when Russia locks his door). But Lithuania still continues to walk at her side, not taking a hint. Belarus opens her mouth, about to tell him to get lost, but he speaks first.

"Not that I don't love you being here or anything, but why exactly are you? Are you staying for a while?"

She opens her door and steps into the room "I'm just waiting for Big Brother." She answers, before slamming the door behind her.

Lithuania stands, staring at the closed door "Waiting for Big Brother?" He parrots quietly to himself.

Footsteps can be heard coming around the corner and he quickly turns, running up to greet the owners of them. He turns the corner and stops dead, in front of the other members of his trio. Latvia jumps, staggering back at the sudden appearance of his friend.

"Why does everyone keep jumping out of everywhere?" He cries, Estonia rolling his eyes then turning to face the Lithuanian.

"What did you tell her!" Lithuania shouts at the two, not knowing who to blame.

Latvia stands confused, confused as to what he did wrong, and Estonia quickly looks down at him to hear what he had done this time.

"I told Belarus to go see you but she just walked the other way! I went to the library to find you but you weren't there anymore, it's not my fault, I didn't do anything wrong" he rushes defensively.

"No, not that, about Russia"

"Oh, I just told her that he would be back later."

"What? Why on earth would you tell her that!?" Estonia jumps in, horrified.

"What? I don't understand, what did I do?" He cries at the sudden negative energy directed towards him.

"Why would you say he would be back later? They are going to be gone for at least another week!" Lithuania explains quickly.

"A week? I thought they were coming back today! She said she was going to wait for him, what do we do?"

"Oh great, so now we're stuck with Belarus for a week. And here I thought we would be able to rest for a while." Estonia sighs, leaning on the wall and sliding down to the floor.

Lithuania takes a breath "It's okay, we will tell her later. Let's just leave her for now, she already seemed irritated enough as is" he decides, sliding down beside his friend, and letting his head fall back to the wall. Already tired of the distress, and disappointed at his denied offer to spend time with her.

Belarus pulls her ear away from the closed door, glaring at it as if it was the trio of idiots themselves. Russia would not be back for a week. She thinks, beginning to pace her room. He is away for a week with Ukraine. What are they doing together? Who else is there? How many other girls would be hoeing around with her brother while she is absent? The thought of it all was making her heart race, she looks over at the time.

12:10

Still so much more torture to endure. She continues to pace, her steps beginning to quicken. What a horrid day, just like every other day. She can't even go see her beloved boss because he is on the other side of Europe for a conference, and Belarus was not allowed to go with him. There is nothing to do, and there is no one to talk to. It is just an awful day. She feels her hands begin to shake with the aggravation and anxiety of it all.

She stops, freezing in the middle of the room and takes a few deep breaths. She just needs to distract herself somehow. Listen to music, go for a walk, read a book, just do something!

Scanning her bedroom her eyes instantly land of the bed.

Sleep. Sleep would be nice. To just have the world leave her alone, and go to sleep. Yes, that is a beautiful thought.

She is hit with a sudden wave of tiredness, and mindlessly begins to walks. Things begin to become noting but flashes, no longer fluid movement, and she finds herself in the washroom. The cabinet is open and a small jar is in her hands. She is drinking water, and then in front of her bed. Slipping off her shoes, she curls up onto the bed with closed eyes, the jar now on her bedside table. The world seems to instantly begin to fade, with nothing but a thick fog in her mind, much like the white noise. It would be perfect to just sleep for hours. To have the world leave her alone: leave her alone forever.

Not even 10 seconds pass when Belarus is disturbed by the sound of the door opening. She huffs, opening one eye and seeing her door now half open. She opened her eye just in time to see the blur of someone moving away, but unable to catch who it actually was.

She sits up in the bed and slides her feet of the side. She had only just lied down and now she must get up and move again because some stupid person came and opened her door.

Crossing the room slowly, she sticks her head out the door to see if the culprit was still around. She looks right to see no one is there, but as soon as she looks left she can feel her heart sore in her chest.

Russia stands down the hallway, sticking his head around the corner. With… rabbit ears? Why would he be wearing rabbit ears? Belarus is confused by this but quickly decided it doesn't matter. The two lock eyes and Russia smiles at her, holding up his wrist and pointing at the time. He then disappears around the corner and before Belarus can even realize what's happening she is chasing after him.

She skids around the corner a sprints after him, there is still so much distance between the two of them and she isn't catching up. The hall stretches before her, seeming endless with Russia miles away. As she runs, the pictures on the walls are becoming warped and wrong, and pattern on the carpet turning to tile of all different sizes and colour. The hall itself slowly becoming smaller as she moves through it. Once it gets to the point where her head begins to hit the ceiling she stops running, crouching in the suddenly small space.

Russia is no longer anywhere in sight. With a long sigh she glances back to see how far she had gone, but is only met with the sight of a wall. Her first instinct is to touch it, to see if it was real. Her hand is met with a hard, red, real wall.

Her back begins to hurt with having to hold her head low in the small space, and she falls down to her knees studying the room she has now found herself in. The tile on the floor is random, all different shapes and sizes, with the colour of each one different and changing every few seconds. The walls have vertical dark red and black stripes, the only normal looking thing in the room.

The overall room was only about a 3 meter by 3 meter square and looking down to the far wall she sees a curtain. Shuffling over, and pulling it out of the way she sees a small door, barely big enough to fit her hand through. Useless.

Scoping the rest of the room she noticed a table that wasn't there before with a small glass vial on it with the label "Drink Me". Seeing as she had no other options she opens the bottle and takes a quick swig. She gets a funny feeling in her stomach, like she is going to throw up and shuts her eyes putting her hand over her mouth. She really didn't want to throw up in such a small room, being stuck with a big puddle right in the middle. She feels dizzy, like the world is spinning around her, and she might actually pass out, when suddenly it all just stops.

All the drink managed to do was make her feel sick for 5 seconds then nothing, how anticlimactic. She opens her eyes and looks at the room, which had suddenly gotten much larger or, she had gotten smaller? The table now sored high over her so she was barely tall enough to touch the bottom of one of the legs.

She must be the perfect size to get through the door now! Now she can catch up with Russia, how exciting. Turning, she runs towards the door, skidding to a halt in front of the curtain and crawls under it. She grabs the doorknob and pulls. Nothing happens. It doesn't turn, and the door doesn't budge. "You have got to be kidding me." She huffs to herself.

All she wanted was to sleep, and now she stuck in this stupid little (or giant, she doesn't really know which at this point) room.

Her eyes scope over the room once again looking for a different way out. But they simply land on the table she got the drink off of. Through the glass bottom she can now see a silver key. Walking to the table, she stands directly under the key looking up at it. Then at the leg of the table. If she were to climb up the leg she would still have no way to get around the bottom of the table and onto the top, so that option was out of the question.

The room was now huge, but other than the table and the door, it was empty., so she can see no other options on how to get the key off the table and down to her. She gowns, lying on the ground under the table. Just staring up at the key. This whole thing is so stupid. All she wanted was to go to sleep. It would have been fine if it was just Russia, it would have been fine just running after him, but then all this bullshit began to happen and now she is stuck in this room.

She closes her eyes, just focusing on her breathing. "I suppose it would be okay to just sleep here." She mutters to herself "it's not like there is anyone else around to give a shit about it."

At that moment she feels the air around her get colder, like suddenly she was outside. A frigid breeze blows over her and suddenly it feels like something is on her chest, crushing it. Gasping for air her eyes fly open and she springs up.

Looking around the room again only to find that nothing had changed. The curtain still covered the door, the key was still above her, on the ginormous table, in the ginormous room. She begins to lay down again when the breeze come from behind her. Going right through her clothes, casing her shiver.

"Natalya" it whispers, directly into her ear.

She freezes, slowly getting to her feet and turning around. The voice came on the breeze, and the breeze came from virtually nowhere. There is no opening in the room that could have caused a breeze, so…. What the fuck?

"Natalya" the breeze comes again, and once again from right behind her.

She slowly turns seeing nothing was behind her. She also began to ponder the question of why she was being referred to as her human name? Yes, all nations do have human names to keep their existence more secret but they are rarely needed/used in everyday settings. So why was, whatever is now in the room with her, calling her Natalya?

She feels the breeze just as it starts and moves quickly, spinning around just in time to see the transparent figure disappear, confirming her suspicions. There was a ghost in the room with her.

"I saw you. I know you're there. Your element of surprise is gone, so you might as well come out." She says flatly, unamused by the ghost's rudeness.

She hears footsteps and looks down to see a pair of lucid shoes slowly walking around her. Rolling her eyes, and crosses her arms she watches them do so.

"Is that suppose to be scary? Why don't you show your whole self, I bet your face is ugly enough to scare a grown man. Let alone scare me. It should get the job done, if that's really what you're going for."

The footsteps stop, and the shoes disappear.

"Oh I'm sorry, did I upset you?" she pouts, uncontrite.

There is a moment of silence as Bearus wait for some kind of response, and gets it as a loud tapping begins to emit. She freezes, listening for the source and quickly recognizes it to be coming on the opposite side of the table. She ducks under the bottom of one of the legs and see's a disembodied translucent hand tapping on the wooden leg impatiently. It stops when she appears and points to the ground under it.

Belarus walks closer and sees it pointing to a small cardboard box. She picks it up and opens it, revealing a small cake with the words "Eat Me" written on the top in frosting. She looks up at the hand then back down to the cake, realizing they must want her to eat it. She carefully takes the cake out of the box and studies it. A small white cake, with pink frosting, and the words in white as well. She smells it. It has the odor of any other cake, overly sweet. She can almost already feel her teeth rotting.

She hears the tapping start again and looks up to see the hand doing so impatiently. Belarus gets the hint and shrugs, taking the cake and throwing it aside.

"I do like cardboard boxes. Thank you Mr. Ugly Face, how did you know?" She says contently, putting the lid back on the small box.

The tapping stops, the hand just freezing in place for at very least 60 seconds. Belarus simply admires her box, happy at the ghost's shocked response. A second hand then appears, it's left hand, and they begin to thrash angrily about.

It points to the cake, which is now a few feet away on the floor, and hold the two hands vertically over one another. It points to the cake a second time, and holds them over one another again, but then pulling them apart in a motion to describe getting bigger. It then points upward and Belarus follows the hand to see it's directed at the key.

Belarus looks back at the hand "You were whispering to me earlier. Why would you go through all that when you could just explain with words."

The hands wave about angrily and point to the cake again.

"I'm not eating that now. It's on the floor. I didn't like how that liquid I drank earlier made me feel, so I will not be consuming any more things that tell me to."

The hands ball up into fists, then processed to mime themselves strangling Belarus. She rolls her eyes at the ghost.

"If you really want me to get the key why do you not just go up there and push it off the table for me. You have proved that you are able to make contact with your surrounding so there should be nothing holding you back."

The hands flip her off and then disappear. She calmly walks back round the table and stands underneath the key. She looks up, waiting for some part of the ghost to reappear up there. When none does she simply sits on the ground. "I could care less about the key really. I'm perfectly fine with just sleeping here. The ground isn't that uncomfortable." She lays down, closing her eyes and listening.

She can hear the key above her slowly begin to slide over the glass part of the table. Just as she predicted. The ghost wanted to to get the key herself, but since she possessed no interest in getting it, the ghost would have no choice but to get it for her. They obviously must not want her in this room any more.

Laying there she begins to think, why is it that this ghost can even get the key for her? Ghosts normally can't do anything. They can't make noise, can't interact with their surroundings, and can rarely speak. So why was it this ghost could? Should she be worried?

A loud clanking is heard as the key drops off the table onto the tile floor. She smiles, it doesn't matter all that much really. She has the key and now she can leave.

Opening her eyes, she stands, walking over to the key and quickly picking it up. "Thank you Mr. Ugly Face" she calls over her shoulder as she heads for the door. She lifts the curtain up and goes under, letting it fall behind her. She sticks the key into the door and turns it, hearing the click of the lock and grabbing the handle. She swings the door open and looks through to see the other side.

Accept there is nothing to see, there is nothing but darkness. She opens the door as wide as it goes and grab onto the other side, holding herself just incase, as she sticks her head through. Nothing to the left, right or center. Nothing up either. She finally looks down and sees a long dark hole with a tiny spec of a light at the bottom. With how far away the light seems the drop must go on for miles. Like hell she's going down there.

Just as she turns around to go back through the curtain she sees the hands. Feels the hands grabbing her shoulders. The hands that push her through the door, and down the hole. The familiar face smirking, waving mockingly as she falls down to what only must be a very painful, sudden, stop.


	3. The Pool of History

Belarus is awake before she opens her eyes, and simply lays still for a few moments. She feels as if she is being lulled into a sweet sleep, with the rocking of the ground, and the soft humming above her. Wait, rocking? Humming? Why does this setting seem so peaceful? She had just fallen down a hole and yet she is not hurting in the slightest. In fact, she felt wonderful. Where did the hole take her? Her eyes fly open and instantly squint back closed, with the sun's glare just above her head. She squints and pulls herself up, taking in her surroundings. She was in some kind of boat.

"What the fuc-" her voice cuts off into muffles as a hand is thrown over her mouth. Belarus turns her head, glaring at the owner of the hand, but it is only returned with a smile. She stares at the girl sitting next to her, long wavy brown hair, and bright green eyes.

"Shush, there is a young mouse in the boat who should not be exposed to the kind of language." The girl scolds, and as soon as that familiar hungary accent escapes her mouth, Belarus feels herself relax slightly.

"Mouse?" she echos, confused.

The girl points past Belarus, to the other side of the boat (as she herself was laying on the ground in the middle) to see another girl. Young, small, short blonde hair with a ribbon and big blue eyes.

"I am Lily the mouse. It is very nice to meet you." She says softly, dipping her head in greeting.

"And I am Elizabeta the Dodo. Who might you be?" The other girl follows.

Belarus just sits there, bewildered at the introduction which had just taken place. She knows the girls to be Hungary and Liechtenstein, and the three girls have know each other for a large number of years, so why was any introduction needed to begin with? And another question was why would they use their human names, and refer to themselves as animals.

But now, as she looks back and forth between them she began to somewhat understand. They were so familiar; yet at the same time so odd, and different. Liechtenstein, or Lily, wore her usual red dress. Her face was the same, her hair was the same, even the ribbon was the same. All was as it should be, except for the large mouse ears positioned at the top of her head, the whiskers on her cheeks, and the long tail poking out from the bottom of her dress. It all seemed too real, too natural, to be some kind of costume. Hungary, or Elizabeta, was in a short dress completely covered in green and black feathers. The feathers also seemed to be laced in along her hair, poking out in random places. All though she recognized the faces, these are not the girls she knows.

The two of them sit patiently, awaiting Belarus' response. She begins to think of how to properly do this. Seeing as they are using their human names, and the ghost was calling her Natalya as well, that must be the proper way to answer the question.

"I am Natalya, the personification of Belarus" She answers finally. Only to get a few odd looks.

"A person-iffy-cation? I've never heard of a creature like that, are you rare?" Lily asks, staring at Belarus wide eyed.

"No, I'm not a creature. I'm a country."

A laugh begins to erupt from her other side, and she turns glaring at Elizabeta once again "A country? How silly." She giggles, and taking a breath "I've heard a word or two about those, but I never thought they were real! How interesting that you are here now." She pauses, looking up towards the sky and then back down to Belarus. "How is it you are here, Natalya? You fell from the sky right into our boat! Made us worry quite a bit too, we didn't know whether or not you were even alive! Can countries fly? Did you get injured in the air?"

Belarus looks up at the bright blue sky and she begins to question herself how she got here "I'm not sure."

"Well how about what you were doing before you got here? Maybe we can help you figure it out."

"It is a long story."

"We have time. Please do tell; we love stories!" Lily squeaks and Belarus sighs.

"I was running after my Big Brother when I got stuck in a room. There was a door that led to a very deep hole, and some irritating ghost pushed me down it. I fell and don't know what happened after that." Belarus replies, not caring to retell her entire tale.

"Oh yes, that must have been rabbit hole." Lily comments, seeming disappointed with the short version of her story. "It probably opened up overhead and that's how you dropped into our boat."

Belarus raises a brow, not understanding the logic in that. But then again, thus far nothing logical has happened, so who was she to judge. She looks around at the waters stretching far out around her, and breaths in the salty fresh air. "Where exactly is here, anyways? This is no ocean I recognize."

"Ocean? This is not an ocean. What you see before you is known as The Pool of History." Elizabeta explains.

Belarus turns to face her once again as she speaks. She was beginning to get tired of constantly having to turn around in order to see each girl, and decides to simply stare outwards into the water. Her neck aching from the constant movement.

"Pool of History? Why would someone give a body of water such a foolish name?" she replies, once she had repositioned herself.

"The name it was given simple describes what it is. Not foolish at all."

"How does that describe it?"

"Well you see, the waters of this pool is made from all the tears shed throughout history." Lily begins to explain, leaning over the side of the boat and gazing in "if you look into your reflection's eyes it will show you the history your heart is in need to see."

"What does that even mean?" she asks doubtful at the chances this was actually true.

Elizabeta sighs loudly "You're not a very educated country are you? Do you know nothing of Wonderland? What she means is, if you look into the water you will see a time that has already passed. A time that you yourself have either forgotten or are in need of a remembering."

"So it just shows you your past? Seem's stupid; have you people never heard of a photo album?"

"Lots of the time it is your own history, but not all the time. Sometime it will show you the history of someone close to you." Lily explains beginning to squint into the water "I see my brother a lot. I see all the hardship and pain he has had to suffer through in order to give me a good life. It makes me very proud to call him my big brother, and I am very thankful for all he has done." Lily stares into the water for an instant, unmoving, then pull herself back to her seat. "That is what the pool of history believes I should see. It's different for everyone." She squeaks to Belarus, the eyes move up to Elizabeta, causing Belarus the need to once again turn and look at the dodo.

Elizabeta now leans over, staring into the water on her side of the boat "But sometimes, the very odd time, you will see the history of people you have never met. I always see a strange rabbit. He's white, has red eyes and always wears this cocky grin. Seems like prick if you ask me. Sometimes he's fighting another creature, sometimes he is with a younger kit, and sometimes he's doing nothing in particular. The memories with him never have any theme, or overall important message it wants me to know" She tilts her head slightly as she stares into the pool "and I still don't know why the pool shows me him. I don't think we have ever met, and if we have I can't seem to remember." The dodo says, pulling herself back into her seat, eyes meeting Belarus' "That is the history the pool believes I need to see. It may not make sense to me, but it does to the pool. Now the only question is, what does it want you to see?"

Belarus simply stares at Elizabeta, who motions towards the water and smiles encouragingly. Not seeing any point not to, Belarus leans over the side of the boat and stares into her reflection. After a few seconds of nothing, she is about to pull back, when the water begins to warp into a distorted picture, slowly changing and becoming clear.

"What do you see?" Lily asks.

Belarus pulls back in to sit at the bottom of the boat. She glares at the past that had presented itself in the waters. "It was me. And my family, back when I was part of the USSR." She replies, bitterly.

"Well I don't know what a USSR is, but you seem upset by it. Why is that? You know, the pool will only show you the history you must see. So there must be a reason for it" Elizabeta explains.

"It was a unified group of countries" Belarus explains, feeling her eyes being drawn back to the water, and an aching starting to appear in her chest. She quickly crosses her arms over it, in an attempt to sooth the unusual pain.

She sees Elizabeta waiting for more of an explanation, but quickly averts her eyes back down to the boat's floor when they meet hers, suddenly not liking the attention. "I should have done a better job fighting back then, and played my part properly." She explains, the words seemingly forming them self "If I had…" She stops, the pain growing "If I had, maybe brother would be proud of me. He wouldn't run from me; he wouldn't be scared of me. He would love me." With that last sentence she feels her voice crack, but continues to speak. Her vocal cords not giving her the chance to hold back the words as they fly from her mouth."But no, I fucked it up when I had a chance, and now I am never going to get that opportunity back." She clenches her fists on her knees, balling up the cloth of her dress. "I will never get a chance to earn his love." Belarus doesn't understand why she is telling them this: she doesn't want to. Taking a deep breath she realizes that she is shaking, and can feel a tear fall down her cheek. "After the USSR broke apart I left him. I abandoned him like all those other ungrateful asswhipes. I left him on his own because I was too concerned with myself to care how he would manage alone. I've never played my part in anything properly. I was useless back then." Her voice falls a few levels, turning to a soft whisper "I still am." What was with this sudden surge of emotion? Why could she not hold it back?

"Do you really believe this?" Elizabeta asks leaning towards her. A curious and concerned look on her face.

"Of course I believe it, why else would I fucking say it?" She snaps suddenly, glaring at the dodo. It feels as though she no longer has control over her words, that she must speak when spoken to. Belarus doesn't know why, but she had stopped caring at this point. The pain in her chest had become unbearable at this point, and she started to have difficulty breathing. Taking shaky, struggled breaths.

"The Pool of History is here to remind us of all that has happened in the past. We all must take time to remember the history that us ourselves, and others have gone through. But one thing you mustn't do is cling to it too tightly. What is history is history, you can not change it. You need to let go and accept the past."

Belarus opens her mouth to rebuttal when Lily's soft voice appears from right at her side, silencing her. "Natalya" She turns to see the small mouse kneeling there, placing her hand gently on Belarus' own, still clenching onto her dress. "You shouldn't blame yourself. I'm sure you did all you could back then, when you were part of the USSR." She comforts, wiping away her tears which were now coming down her face full stream "You seem like a very strong woman, and I have faith that you worked so hard when you were there, that there isn't possibly anything more that you could have done. I have a big brother too, and sometimes I get on his nerves and he gets mad at me. But at the end of the day I know he really does love me. I'm sure you're brother loves you too. He may just have a difficult time trying to show it. Nothing you have ever done in the past could possibly change that love that siblings have for one another."

Lily's words seem to pull her into another world. Staring at the girl she can feel the pain in her chest disappear, with a new feeling taking it's place. A different, unknown feeling. The shaking has stopped, and Lily wipes away the last of her tears. When she realizes Belarus had calmed down, Lily smiles at her and returns to her seat carefully.

"This brother of yours, he was the one who led you here, right? I'm sure you are wanting to find him again, would you like us to help you?" Elizabeta asks, causing Belarus to break her gaze from Lily's. Feeling her face get hot, she realized she was staring at the young girl, and she turns to face Elizabeta.

"Yeah, that would be helpful. I haven't seen him since before I got trapped in that room though." Belarus replied, her voice cracking at first, from the tears which had started and stopped so quickly.

"Well I do know a lot of the creatures here in Wonderland. If you could explain him, please?"

She nods, picturing the man in her mind "He is very tall, very handsome, and speaks with an accent alike to mine. He has platinum hair, violet eyes, and-" She pauses, looking over Elizabeta quickly "-he is a rabbit." She adds, watching Elizabeta pounder, muttering quietly to herself.

"A rabbit? That's odd, a country related to a rabbit? Never heard of such a thing! Countries must be much stranger creatures than I had originally thought." The dodo stops at she meets Belarus' sharp gaze, realizing she had gotten far off track. "I do know a lot of rabbits though… How about his name?"

"Russia." She answers without thinking, and Elizabeta's brows furrow in confusion.

"What an odd name for a rabbit. Doesn't belong to any of the one's I know, sorry Natalya."

Belarus shakes her head at her own stupidity "Ivan. I meant Ivan." And Elizabeta's face lights up.

"Oh yes, I know Ivan!" she narrows her eyes at Belarus "Ivan is your brother? Huh, I would never have guessed at first, but now that I think of it I do see many similarities with you two. Other than the fact you are no rabbit. I wonder: are countries a cross breed of rabbits? Like hares?" Belarus was beginning to get annoyed with how she talked about countries as if they were animals. She had called Belarus uneducated, but at this point she knew it was the other way around. "As far as I know he is headed to the palace for the trial, and lucky for you we are going there too!" Elizabeta turns in her seat, so her back is now facing Belarus "Full speed ahead Lily!" She shouts, grabbing her ores.

Belarus is met with such a sudden burst of wind and speed that she almost flies straight back into Lily. She grabs the sides of the boat, holding on for dear life as water is sprayed into her face. She never knew you could go this fast on a simple row boat. At this speed they must be going as fast as any motor powered boat, if not faster.

She squints, seeing hints of land begin to appear over the horizon. There was still a long way to go and Belarus begins to think about everything that has happened thus far.

This place she has found herself in is obviously much different than her real world. Wonderland, as Elizabeta had called it, appears to be a place inhabited by humanoid creatures, and no one seems know what a country is: so there must be none of those here. Everything goes by human names as well, so in order to make everything much simpler she must begin to go by her human name, and refer to others by theirs. Also, if she see's some she thinks she knows, she must remember that in this world she does not. They may seems familiar, but they are completely different at the same time. It's curious, this world. And interesting. Natalya isn't sure if that is a good or bad thing yet, but it is interesting no less.

Her breath is abruptly knocked out of her chest as the boat jumps into the air by impact on a large wave. Her grasp on the sides of the boat lossens and she flys backwards, feeling her back hit into Lily. The boat drops back onto the top of the water and it pours into the boat drenching her. She huffs out a breath, spitting out the salty water as she does so.

"Fucking hell" she mutters between coughs. A small giggle is heard behind her and she looks up to see Lily's head above her, a reminder that he was now sitting back onto the girl.

"Are you okay Natalya? It seems that you are not very use to being in a fast moving boat." Lily squeaks, amused, smiling down at the soaking wet girl. While the mouse herself seeming completely dry.

"Yes I'm fine" Natalya grunts, unamused with the fact she was the only one to get hit with the water. She moves onto her knees and grips the sides of the boat tighter, slowly attempting to shuffle her way back to the middle. But with the intense speed of the boat, slippery wood, and wind jetting right into her face her endeavor quickly shows to be much harder to complete than originally thought.

"Would you like some help? You will get much less wet when you stay in the middle of the boat." Lily asks, watching Natalya's struggle.

"No, you're rowing. I doubt you will be able to help at the same time, let alone at all." Natalya shouts over the wind, now on her second attempt.

She can hear a giggle behind and Natalya simply rolls her eyes, continuing her pursuit forward. She had made it all of a few centimeters forward, barely back to the center, and the trip was becoming much more difficult now that she was away from Lily: no longer having the leverage from behind.

"Don't worry, we will go together." Lily's soft voice appears once again from right behind, causing Belarus to jump slightly at the gentle hands suddenly at her waist. "I am much more comfortable in the boat, I know how to move around whilst the it is at top speed. We can go back to the center together."

Natalya attempts to refuse the offer, as Lily was nothing more than a little girl, but she feels her voice caught in her throat and is unable to respond. Lily's right knee begins to push her foot forward, and Natalya is now able to move her leg ahead easily. The two continue to do this motion, walking on their knees, and the trip suddenly becoming much easier with the help of Lily. The next thing Natalya knew she was back in the center of the boat.

"See, we're here now." Lily announces, and Natalya glances over her shoulder to see the mouse's face is inches from her own. She feels her face heat, and the weird feeling appear back in her chest. She quickly turns forward again.

"Thanks" she mutters, looking down at the boats floor, flustered at the sudden heat in her cheeks.

"It's no problem really. If you ever need help, you just need to ask" Lily explains, and Natalya can just sense the young girl's smile. "I will be heading back to row now, I'm sure Elizabeta is getting tired on her own. If you need anything, just tell me."

With that Natalya feels her moving away from behind, and instantly misses the girl's presence. She quickly shrugs this off however, and looks forward to see their progress towards land. Her eyes widen when she see's the land very clearly ahead, the boat still moving at top speed towards it.

"We're getting really close to the shore, shouldn't we slow down?" She yells ahead to Elizabeta, who simply shakes her head.

"We will be late for the Caucus-Race if we don't hurry" she replies.

"What the hell is a Causus-Race? We are going too fast, you need to slow down!" Natalya shouts, her heart quickening in fear with the fast approaching shore.

"There is no point of having a Caucus-Race if you're not wet, you know. Isn't that right Lily?" she explains happily, and Lily cheers in reply.

"What the hell are you talking about? For fuck's sake just slow down already, we're going to crash onto the beach!"

"It seems they are gathering, we are close enough. Time to join them!" Elizabeta cries before dropping her ore into the water. The boat however continues to move at jet like speed towards the shore, which was now only 400 meters ahead.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Natalya cries, panicked at the sudden lack of ores. But before she can even continue on, she see's Elizabeta stand in her seat and dive into the water with a large splash. To her dismay she hears another splash behind her, and looks to see Lily gone as well.

Natalya swings her head forward once more to see the beach just ahead and shuts her eyes, bracing for impact. The wind is knocked out of her as the boat hits into the sand nose first, sending the back of the boat upward and Natalya is launched straight into the sky.

She opens her eyes and looks down to see herself soaring high above the earth over a forest. She looks behind at the pool disappearing over the horizon, then back down at the ground, which she was now fast approaching.

She tucks arms over her head and squints her eyes closed, once again bracing for contact. It seemed that her main method of travel in this world would end up to be just getting thrown around every which way and failing straight into her next destination.

She peaks open one eye just in time to watch herself land on top of large mushroom, it's soft top absorbing the impact and breaking underneath her. She thumps onto the ground beneath said mushroom and lets out the breath she had been holding in.

She goans "What the fuck was that about? Who the hell just leaves a passenger in a boat that is about to crash? What kind of courtesy is that? Saying you'll help someone then just abandoning them to save your own skin." Natalya stands brushing herself off angrily and looking around at the mushrooms, flowers, and grass soaring above her. "Where the hell am I now?" she huffs, then coughing as she breaths in a thick smoke which had blown over her.

"Wow, you're one rude girl aren't you? Are you about finished talking to yourself already?" A voice ascribes from above.

Natalya looks up to see a man above her, removing his hookah from his mouth and blowing the smoke onto her for the second time. Natalya coughs once again, the world around her engulfed in the thick white smoke.

 _[Author's Note: *Lowkey ships* I apologize for how long this took to write, I was having issues with the ending but that is honestly my own fault for not making an outline. I promise future chapters will be up within the next 10 days of the last. And if you want to go yell at me on Instagram to keep up this schedule please do so - queen_mayan It's a cosplay account and I'm Belarus so I promise this is relevant. I also made a small change to The Real World. It's very minor but I do find it is fairly important to the plot, especially so you can completely understand the next chapter, and the ending. It is just after Belarus finishes listening in on the Trio of Baltic Idiots and when she is alone in her room, about to go to sleep. I apologize for not writing it in when I first posted the chapter, but once again this was my own fault for not having made an outline. Sorry.]_


	4. A Caterpillars Drug

Natalya squints through the smoke, gagging at the fumes and waving wildly to clear the air around her. Once she has done so she takes in a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air and glaring up at the man above. He seems unentertained with her, not even glancing in her general direction. Simply leaning back and puffing out the smoke from his hookah.

She studies the familiar creature, a smaller man with his long black hair pulled into a low pony tail, and an arrogant look plastered on his face. All though she knew he was male, any other person to come by may easily mistake him for a girl, as he looked very feminine overall. This was unmistakably the face of China, but the rest of him was much less human looking. All though his top half was very much so the Chinese man, his bottom was more like some time of mermaid. But rather than a fish's tail it was a bright red caterpillar's, perfectly matching the antenna's on the top of his head.

She once again scans her surroundings: the grass, flowers, fungi, and everything else that was usually tiny in her perspective was now soaring high above her. And the tree that hung over head seemed more like a sky scraper than anything else. Natalya questioned this for only a few seconds before remembering her experience after drinking a vial of liquid when these strange events first began to occur. She had shrunk in order to fit through the door, and now she sees that she has yet to get back to her normal size.

"The audacity of you! Even after you have first been addressed you do not bother to speak to the other person in front of you, just stand there and stare off into space: what an ignorant girl."

At just the sound of his voice Natalya is already very aggravated by the caterpillar "You're one to talk about ignorance and audacity" she begins, climbing up another mushroom to stand close to the same level "as you sit there smoking whatever that is, blowing it onto passersby and acting as if they are the ones at fault. What is that anyways? It smells horrid." She spits, standing on the slightly smaller mushroom directly in front of his own, the two of them now only a meter away in from one another.

"It is the finest of opium. A delinquent girl such as yourself would never be able to get your hands on some as pure as this." He brags, taking a long drag on his pipe, not bothering to look her in the eye as they speak.

"Pure or not, it's a drug no less. The audacity of you! I can hardly understand destroying your body for the sake of a small high, and here you are blowing it onto other so as they must go down the same path as you." She mocks, adding under her breath "Stupid Chinese man." as she crosses her arms.

All though she was sure her last comment was too quiet to be made audible, he replies quickly "There you go speaking more of your nonsense: calling me a Cheshire, and a man. Do your eyes not work girl? I am not a man; I am not human. Nor am I any kind of mangy cat." He corrects, and as he speaks the words seem to become written in the smoke all around them "I am Yao the Caterpillar. A caterpillar and nothing else."

"A caterpillar and a druggy seems more accurate." Natalya mutter, and he simply rolls his eyes at this. She feels a hint of superiority at the fact he did not understand the word Chinese.

The caterpillar goes to take another hit of his opium but only to have the pipe clog. He hits the base a few times, looking through the pipe. "All this talk about me, but the real question here has been yet to be answered." He says as he struggles, then finally taking another long drag "Who are you?" As he asks this, the smoke exit's his mouth taking form of his words, which flout softly in front of Natalya.

She rolls her eyes at the smoke, blowing it away. "I am Natalya, the personification of Belarus." She answers curtly "A personification and nothing else."

Yao rolls his eyes at her mimicking "So what, you're not human? I find that hard to believe. You don't look like more than a little lost girl."

"No. I'm not human." She cringes slightly "And thank god for that. To live life as a human would be horrible. I'd even go as far to say it's as bad as being some useless caterpillar."

"And how is that so?" He asks, ignoring Natalya's jab.

"It is a life completely full of hardship and misfortune. Humans are ignorant selfish beings. They constantly strive for themselves, strive for their own eternal happiness but while they do so they do not realize they are knocking others down. They live for themselves and make others suffer because of this, not only other humans but our planet as well. A human must work too hard to live how they want to live and majority of the time they are stuck in a world they never planned, or wanted to be in in the first place. It is-" Natalya goes on to continue but is cut off when a line of smoke is blown into her face.

"Your sad story make me cry" Yao comments sarcastically. Natalya glares, wondering why he even asked in the first place "And what about life as a personification? How is that any better?"

Natalya lets out a small pitiful laugh "It isn't." She leans over one leg, glancing away "At least human's die sooner or later. Personifications are stuck where they are for who knows how long. We can't die unless our homes fall apart completely."  
" Well if you are unsatisfied by the way you are now, recreational drugs will always be there." He says taking another long drag "Don't knock it till you try it" Yao finishes, blowing the smoke straight into Natalya's face.

She coughs, waving it away. Natalya was beginning to get very tired of doing this "Recreational drugs will always be the stupidest possible escape. And nothing but a temporary one at that. There are ways to do this without any back lash." She explains; of course the only temporary escape that would ever work for her is her spacing out into the beautiful white noise.

Yao looks over Natalya for a second, blowing little puff of smoke out around her as he does so "Yes I see, you don't really want to escape temporarily. Where is the point of that? I'm sure the only thing you want, is to be free from it all eternally." He says casually, pulling his gaze to the distance and leaning back.

Natalya feels herself stiffen slightly at his words. The words he spoke where ones she constantly thought over herself, and really did believe. The puffs of smoke around her had begun to slowly circle Natalya, just out of reach for her to blow them away. She begins to get an uneasy the feeling that he knows much more than he had originally let on.

When he sees she doesn't have any plan to answer the caterpillar continues "You know you can't die, but really what is there to stop you from trying?"

"What the hell are you going on about now?" Natalya snaps, beginning to find it very difficult to keep a calm composure. The only thought in her head was that he knows, he must know it all.

"Such a hypocrite, talking about how terrible drugs are: acting so innocent." He says, remaining completely casual, as if he was talking to no one in particular. His eye's fixed in the other direction. "Drug's make the world go round for some. But for others, it is used for the soul purpose of making the world stop spinning completely." He says, with his finally statement he glances towards her, directing it precisely at Natalya.

The balls of smoke begin to move faster, perfectly in time as the sun disappears behind a large black cloud. Natalya clenches her fists as she feels the aggression between herself and Yao grow, the atmosphere thickening: all as soon as their eyes made contact. All though there had been tension in the air since the beginning of their conversation, she can't help but feel more on edge by the caterpillar's hostile gaze.

She straightens herself, sticking here chin in the air "You think you're cleaver don't you? Acting as if your words have so much meaning to them when in reality you are going on about nothing."

"Huh" He narrows his eyes towards her, a sadistic smile appearing on his face "A little jar of pills is all it can take to make your world freeze in place. But I'm sure you know all about that, Natalya" Yao spits, the amount of venom in his voice as he said her name would be enough to make any child cry.

Natalya feels her heart quicken at the mention of pills, her composure falling completely. A jar of pills: a jar of sleeping pills that she knew was in her system somewhere. She can barely remember them, it was just a flash after all, but she is a country so they would have no effect on her. They would do nothing to harm her. So why was his mention of them making her so uneasy? How had he known? This entire conversation was pointless and aggravating, why had she stayed to talk to him?

"You call me stupid when you very well have had your fair share of drug intake. What an audacious, hypocritical girl you are. But a little jar of pills will not even be close to your first attempt, isn't that right?" Yao's knowing gaze was fixed on Natalya, the smoke spinning around her at top speed making her stomach flip. "If anything I think you need more of a taste for recreational drugs. Why don't you just come join me for some opium?"

At this Natalya finally snaps. She moves forward on her mushroom, waving away the smoke wall that had created itself between them and matching her frigid gaze with his. So much adrenalin running though her that she couldn't find any sort of proper come back "I swear, if I was my proper size right now I would crush you in a heartbeat, you insignificant bug."

"Too bad you aren't" Yao says, back to his tired casual state not even bothering to keep eye contact anymore.

Natalya lets out a long frustrated breath. She was quite finished with this conversation and turns, hopping off her mushroom and stomping away in the other direction.

She is almost out of sight of the caterpillar when she hears him call after her "The right side will make you grow; the left will make you shrink."

If he had said anything else Natalya would not have replied, but as soon as she hears the word grow, he has her complete attention. "What do you want now?"

"You want to get back to your normal size, do you not? The right side will make you grow; the left will make you shrink." He repeats, and as he does a loud crack of thunder rings out over head.

Natalya turns back to his direction, glancing up at the dark sky for a second. It had not begun to rain yet, but it defiantly felt as though a down poor was coming. She had walked to a point where she could no longer see the caterpillar, but could hear him loud and clear. "Side of what?" she questions, not caring to go back if there was no meaningful purpose.

"Of the mushroom! You ignorant girl, do you know nothing?" He shouts, aggravated at his need to constantly repeat himself.

Natalya walks back in his direct "Which mushroom? There's like fucking ten-" she stops as the spot they were speaking comes into view. All traces of the caterpillar where gone except for a small smoky arrow pointing down at the mushroom she had been standing on. She huffs, walking up to the mushroom and studying it "Well which side is left and which is right? It's a perfect circle, so the right of it will be completely different depending on the side you are standing on." She mutters under her breath, as she walks around the mushroom.

She looks up at the mushroom Yao had been sitting on then back at her own. She climes atop her own and turns to face the direction Yao had been facing. He said left and right, so he must have been referring to the sides from his own perspective. That was the only logical solution to this problem, so Natalya plopped back down her mushroom and stretched her arms out to either side. She quickly rips off a piece from each side and looks down at them. And as she does so she can hear the rain begin to start not too far in front of her. If she didn't hurry the rain would reach Natalya, and with her current size, completely wash her away.

"Right side will make you grow" She repeats to herself before taking a small bite of the mushroom in her right hand. She had promised herself she would eat or drink no more odd things, but seeing the predicament she was currently in, she had no other choice.

Natalya clenches her stomach at the familiar sickly feeling of consuming magic things. Her vision begins to blur, the grass and mushrooms in front of her warping into one. Closing her eyes she takes a deep breath, hoping it would end soon as a pounding head ache begins. Her wish is quickly granted as it all fades away within a few more seconds. Her eyes open to find herself sitting in a grassy clearing.

Standing, she measures herself with the tree at her left side and lets a faint smile slip out, happy to be back to her normal size. That happiness quickly fades away as the rain hits her, and hits her hard. She is suddenly engulfed in a torrential down poor, the rain feeling like rocks being pelted atop her head. All though she is standing at the base of a tree it does not do much to stop the heavy rain and the next thing she knows she is running through the forest.

Her hands are raised above her face protecting it as she runs looking for any source of shelter. The forest seems to get darker and darker as she runs deeper into it, and there it is soon pitch black. Barely able to see what's in front of her Natalya feels her foot gets caught under something and falls forward.

"Fuck!" She screams as she falls, hitting the ground hard. So hard that her foot comes loose and she begins to tumble down a steep hill that she hadn't known was in front of her.

She skids down the wet hillside on her bottom, unable to stop herself in the muddy forest floor, and silently praying no large rocks or trees are ahead of her. She swings her arm and body weight over to her left side and flips to her stomach, instantly gagging up mud and leafs as she does so. She takes her hands and claws them into the ground in an attempt to stop, or at least slow herself down. She had been falling down this hill as if it where some type of water slide, and she did not want to know what would happen when she reached the bottom at this speed.

Her plan does seem to work, as she slowly begins to come to a stop. Once she was fully still Natalya stands up onto her unsteady feet. The rain was still pounding down on her head and she was now not only soaked to the bone, but covered in the contents of the forest floor as well.

She brings her hend up to shield her eyes and looks around. There was no point in running if there was nowhere to run too. It was so dark in the forest, but in the distance she could see a faint orange glow of what must be a fire. Natalya begins to speed walk towards it, not trusting herself to completely run again, and is soon directly in front of a small cave. It seems the fire was not too far from her at all and she hops into the shelter of it before she even acknowledges the creature who is manning the fire.

Once she was finally safe from the tedious rain she looked around. It was a small cave: a very small cave. Though she was able to stand up straight the roof of the cave still hung very low and the fire was inches away from burning her legs (which wasn't that bad since at this point Natalya felt like she was one big ice cube). Behind the fire was a large rock that took up most of the cave, and on the other side sat a small girl.

Natalya felt the girl was very familiar but couldn't quite put a name to the face. She was younger, with tanner skin, and her dark hair pulled into a ponytail on the left side of her head with a pink flower. She also had a turtle shell, ears that looked like they belonged to a pig, and a tail. Natalya wasn't sure what animal she was meant to be, a pig or a turtle?

"What do you think you're doing? This is our cave, and you were not invited in. Go find your own!" The girl remarks in a thick Australian accent, sticking her chin in the air.

Natalya realizes instantly that this girl must be one of the micro-nations in her world. Her name was Wy, one of Australians kid siblings. "There is no way in hell I am going back into that rain. This is the first sheltered place I have seen so I am staying."

The girl narrows her eyes at Natalya "No you are not, there is barely enough room in here. Not to mention you look like you just rolled around in a pig pen: you will get crud all over the floor where we need to sit!"

Natalya lets out a laugh "This coming from an actual pig." She says, gesturing to the girl's ears.

"Hey! I am not a pig! I am Paulette the Mock Turtle." She huffs.

"A mock turtle? So not a real turtle? That's pretty pitiful."

"I am a real turtle!" She yells, visible becoming even more displeased with the present of Natalya "Funny how you are so rude to the only person who is able to keep you dry. If you don't shape up right now I will send you back out into the rain."

"Was that not what you wanted to do from the start?" Natalya asks, amused at the little girl's shortening temper. "And as if you would be able to get me out in the first place. You come over here to get me out and I will pull you out with me." She threatens.

"Well I won't be the one doing the throwing." She states, smiling slightly.

Natalya raises a brow at the girl "Oh, you won't? Then who might it be, one of your little friends? A Mock Horse, what about a Mock Dog?" She challenges.

The Mock Turtle stands, not caring to give Natalya a response or even look back her way. She walks around the rock she had been sitting on to the front of the large one that was taking up most of the cave. Paulette looks down at the rock and pokes it.

"Oh I see, it's a Mock Rock." Natalya mutters in amusement, but the smirk quickly fades from her face as she sees the "rock" move slightly. Squinting, she looks closer at it. The light in the cave was very poor, but with more investigation she was able to see what looked like feathers.

"Come on, time to get up. This girl is being really rude to me!" Paulette says, raising her voice and kicking the feathered creature.

"Bein' rude? Who's bein' rude?" The voice asks in a thick groggy voice with the same accent as the little girl. The creature sits up with its, what now appear to be wings, needing to spread out slightly so as to not hit the ceiling.

"This girl, she came in here uninvited and refused to leave. Now she is making rude comments about me being a pig, when I am not a pig." Paulette explains and the creature turns on its knees to face Natalya. She looks over him, already knowing him as Australia, but she just couldn't figure out what type of animal he was meant to be. He had very large brown wings (each as big as Natalya herself), and feathers scattered around in his hair, which all led her to believe him to be an eagle. But his hands and feet where covered in a lighter hair, with black, sharp, claw-like nails, and a lion's tail. This of course led her to believe him to be a lion, but how could he be both?

"Oi" The man says, drawing Natalya's gaze back up to his tired eyes. "What are you doin' in our cave?" He yawns, rubbing his eyes.

"What are you?" She asks, this question being the only thing on her mind at the moment.

The man looks at her confused and clearly still half asleep "Uh? I am Jett the griffin! The only griffin in Wonderland! How do you not know what I am?"

"She did that to me too. She doesn't seem know anything. Must be very uneducated" Paulette states, crossing her arms and giving Natalya a pity filled look.

Being referred to as uneducated seemed to be becoming a reoccurring even in this world and Natalya was starting to get very agitated by it "Huh, uneducated. This coming from a creature that believes it too be something it's not." She sneers at the girl, adding under her breath "Fucking pig…"

Natalya quickly regrets saying this though, as Jett rises to his feet, looming over her. He was standing very close to her, his chest inches from her face, but even though he had stepped to where the ceiling hung higher he still needed to slouch, so as his head would not hit the hard rock above. Natalya glances up at the griffin and meets his mischievous gaze.

"Oi, who are you calling a pig?" He asks, and Natalya can feel a lump forming in her throat as the large man grabs her shoulders "The only pigs here can fly; do you know which one of us is a flying pig?"

Natalya tries to pull from his grasp but is suddenly lifted into the air as Jett begins to carry her out into the rain. He spreads one of his wings out and Natalya glances down too see Paulette standing beneath one of them, smirking victoriously.

The rain hits her instantly, and hard. "Ready for your flight, pig?" Jett laughs, before gripping Natalya harder, whipping her around himself once, and releasing her into the air. Natalya feels herself sling shot forward, up above the trees, then quickly flying back down towards the earth. She braces herself, the heavy rain seemingly assisting in pushing her towards the hard ground. She had been fine in her last two "flights" so she was just praying that this one would end safely as well.


End file.
